1) The Power Junkie

Serial killers typically have a real affinity with power, even when they’ve been caught and know the game is up.

Intent on exerting some kind of control over the people around them, they often hold back bits of crucial information in a bid to maintain power over the situation, gain attention and assert a warped sense of authority.

Dr Death: Harold Shipman is thought to have murdered hundreds of patients

2) The Expert Manipulator

Apparent vulnerability and the need to please have been used effectively time and time again by serial killers as a way of hiding a sinister personality.

Some of the world’s best known serial killers have a frightening ability to manipulate those around them, pressing the right buttons in order to present themselves in a false light.

Serial killers are also often able to manipulate a situation in order to pass the blame for their actions, using hot-button issues of the day or medical psychological research to try to explain their actions.

Of course, these helped incriminate the pair and lead the police to the three bodies eventually found on the Moor.

Jeffrey L. Dahmer enters the courtroom 06 August 1991 (Image: Getty)

4) The Superficial Charmer

Serial killers tend to have a very good grasp of other people’s emotions and are quick to pick up on any vulnerability or weakness in order to convince them into doing things they normally wouldn’t.

They’ll get others on side and take charge of a situation with a mix of compliments and common sense.

Jeffrey Dahmer known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, who murdered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991 was able to lure his victims to his house where he killed them.

Clown: Wayne Gacy dressed up to entertain but was a secret killer (Image: Getty)

5) The Average Joe

Possibly the scariest trait of all, many serial killers look like a pillar of the community on first sight. However it’s a way of gaining trust, only to abuse it in the most appalling ways.

This tactic has enabled many to get away with a lot of deviant stuff behind closed doors.

This was the case for Wayne Gacy, nicknamed ‘Killer Clown’ who was politically active in his Chicago suburb and worked hard for the local community, even performing at parties and events as a ‘Pogo’ the clown.

But in private he was a man who raped and murdered teenage boys, burying their remains in the crawlspace of the house where he lived.